1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an odor eliminating material that can be used, for example, as an odor eliminating sheet, an odor eliminating filter for air-conditioners or the like, and also relates to the manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
In accordance with the recent improvement of life environments, a strong interest is directed to elimination of living odors in living spaces, such as odors of ammonia, trimethylamine, hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, acetic acid, acetaldehyde or the like, to secure a more comfortable living space.
In order to solve odor problems, various kinds of odor eliminating materials are available in markets. For example, an odor eliminating material in which activated carbon is carried on a surface of a nonwoven fabric is known. Although this kind of adsorption type odor eliminating material is excellent in immediate effect, there are defects such that it is poor in continuous effect and extremely short in life.
In recent years, as an odor eliminating material, an odor eliminating sheet in which metal phthalocyanine complexes are carried by a cloth (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-84057 A) and an odor eliminating paper in which metal phthalocyanine complexes are carried by a thin paper (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 05-269328 A) have been proposed. However, these odor eliminating sheets/papers were not enough in odor elimination performance. Also known is an odor eliminating material in which metal phthalocyanine complexes are adhered by binder resin (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-152982 A). However, enough odor elimination performance could not be obtained by this odor eliminating material. Under the circumstances, a textile product in which metal phthalocyanine complexes are carried by cationized cellulose series fibers has been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-254269 A).
On the other hand, an odor eliminating material in which photocatalyst such as titanium oxide is carried by a cloth has also been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-328438 A).
However, the aforementioned conventional prior art techniques had the following drawbacks. That is, in the textile products disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-254269 A, although odor eliminating effects can be improved by cationizing cellulose series fibers in advance to increase the carried amount of the metal phthalocyanine complex to some degree, the odor elimination performance was not fully satisfactory. Therefore, it is desired to further improve the odor elimination performance. A further increased concentration of the metal phthalocyanine complex at the time of the immersion treatment would not cause a further increased carried amount. Therefore, it was difficult to further improve the odor elimination performance.
In the aforementioned odor eliminating material carrying photocatalyst, although there is a feature that various kinds of odor components can be decomposed at normal temperature, it is required to irradiate ultraviolet rays of certain wavelengths to photocatalyst in order to exert the decomposition, which limits the application environment as odor eliminating materials. Furthermore, the odor elimination performance was not enough.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.